Screening of the entire coding region of p53 in low grade lymphoproliferative disorders.

This report details a rapid method for screening the entire p53 coding region (exons 2-11). This method, based on the non-isotopic RNase cleavage assay, uses novel primer sequences and an adaptation of the MutationScreener method. A mutation in 20% of the sample was easily detectable by this method, whereas mutations below 50% were undetectable using the original method. Alterations to the wild-type p53 mRNA sequence were found in nine of the 130 patients with low grade lymphoproliferative disorders screened, and this was confirmed by DNA sequencing in eight of eight samples. The method is a simple and reliable technique for screening for p53 mutations.